Zac Efron made some giant strides in shedding his Disney High School Musical image with this romantic drama where he plays a former Marine on a mission. In The Lucky One even gets some tastefully done romantic sex scenes with co-star Taylor Schilling.

While in Iraq on a military style mission Efron finds a picture of a pretty woman with the inscription 'stay safe' on the back. Without thinking it didn't help the Marine who had it before, he takes the picture and credits it as a good luck charm which kept him safe in a nasty fire fight. After discharge, Efron makes it his mission to find whose picture it is.

The mission takes him to the Louisiana bayou country where he finds Schilling together with her young son Riley Stewart and a most jealous ex-husband Jay Ferguson who is a deputy sheriff. She's living with her grandmother Blythe Danner and the photograph belonged to her brother who was in Iraq the same time as Efron.

There's a fine line between romance and stalking and Efron may have erased it. He tries to tell Schilling, but she just assumes he is answering an advertisement she put around town about her needing help with the family business which is a dog kennel. She hires him and nature takes its course.

Efron and Schilling hit it off for themselves on the screen and for the audience watching. Some real nice cinematography of Louisiana in the fall also distinguishes The Lucky One.

Will this be luck for life? You have to watch The Lucky One to find out. I will say Zac Efron was lucky to do this film.

Logan (Zac Efron) is a marine in Iraq. He is drawn to a photo of Beth (Taylor Schilling) with the words "keep safe" written on the back. As he examines the photo, an explosion occurs just where he was before. Everybody considers the photo a lucky charm. He returns home after 3 tours suffering from PTSD. He decides to track down Beth. He can't quite explain his reason for coming when she just assumes that he's looking for a job at her dog kennel. Beth thinks that he's crazy but her grandmother Ellie (Blythe Danner) gives him the job anyways. Beth is divorced from angry jealous police deputy Keith Clayton (Jay R. Ferguson) and they have a son together. Soon, Logan befriends Ellie and the boy while annoying Beth. The photo is the property of Beth's brother who didn't make it back from Iraq.

I like Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling individually. They are able to salvage some chemistry. The problem is that the whole setup feels forced. It's not simply the way it's written but also the way it's shot. Everything feels slightly fake. This is a Nicholas Sparks after all. The biggest problem is that Logan is a little too precious with his secret about the photo. It's better if he stops trying to tell it and leave it as an internal struggle. Some things are better left to the audience's imagination or even without reason. Nevertheless, I like both leads and I can't help but pull for them.

The most cheesy boring romantic movie you can watch this if you are 12 years old.